Local Ed Board Says Stefanik “Fails to take duties seriously” & is “Sacrificing her integrity”
While Congresswoman Elise Stefanik uses publicity stunts to raise her profile and demonstrate her loyalty to President Trump, her hometown newspaper continues to highlight her failure to represent the people of New York’s 21st Congressional District with integrity.
After having a rough summer and an even tougher district work period, Stefanik now faces brutal editorials… again.
Stefanik has already faced protests back home, criticism of her lackluster town hall record, and scandals around public meetings. And now the local press is telling a much different story about Elise Stefanik’s performance this Congress.
We should all listen.
Here’s What the Post-Star Has to Say:
Stefanik fails to take duties seriously
Post-Star Editorial Board | November 19, 2019
Boos to our congresswoman, Elise Stefanik, for failing to take seriously the impeachment hearings now taking place before the House Intelligence Committee (she sits on the committee,) and instead using her time to make irrelevant complaints and participate in publicity stunts.
We haven’t always agreed with Stefanik’s policy positions, but we have considered her a serious politician who was above the sort of attention-seeking hyper-partisanship that Washington, D.C. seems to encourage these days, especially among Republican members demonstrating fealty to President Trump.
Stefanik’s worst episode took place during the questioning of Marie Yovonovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine, when Stefanik attempted to insert herself into time reserved for other questioners.
When Adam Schiff, chairman of the committee, cut her off, she tried to claim he was being sexist. Actually, he was enforcing the rules of the committee, which apply to all members equally. It was she who was creating an unnecessary disturbance, she who was grandstanding.
We don’t know what has happened to Stefanik in recent weeks, but she seems to have decided the best way to get recognized in Washington is to act like a fanatic. That’s too bad. It’s to her credit that she sits on this important committee, and it would be to her credit if she conducted herself with dignity.
We can’t imagine her stunts are going over well in her district, and there is an even larger issue: She has a duty to the country and the Constitution to address the substance of the issues her committee is investigating. We wish she would start doing it.
EDITORIAL: Stefanik is sacrificing her integrity
Post-Star Editorial Board | November 10, 2019
What a difference five years makes.
In November 2014, Elise Stefanik became, at 30, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She was unpolished and unsure of herself.
In August of that year, as she was campaigning, she held a press conference in front of the Glens Falls Senior Center to talk about her support for Social Security and Medicare. She took a few questions, then was asked to clarify her position. Abruptly, she walked away.
The press conference, scheduled for half an hour, lasted just 8 minutes.
Despite her inexperience and the occasional attack of nerves, she won the election and seemed to be working hard in Washington. In 2016, The Post-Star supported her for re-election.
She had come to the newspaper earlier that year and expressed confidence the Republican nominee would not be Donald Trump, whom she seemed to hold in low regard.
“I will support the nominee, and I’m sure that will not be Donald Trump,” she said.
Things have changed for Stefanik, who now embraces a bad president to safeguard her job. She no longer gets flustered by tough questions — mostly, she doesn’t give anyone the chance to ask them. Instead, she parrots the Trump line on Fox News and lets her attack-dog spokesman argue with reporters on Twitter.
If her integrity has been sacrificed, that isn’t worth a shrug. She calls for the whistleblower to be outed and avoids talking about the way Trump held military aid to Ukraine hostage to his demand for an investigation of Joe Biden.
She will differ with Trump’s policies here and there. But when it comes to critical questions of presidential character and patriotism and job performance, she is a loyal mouthpiece for Trump’s talking points.
We have seen so many people with good reputations trying to salvage what is left of them after leaving the Trump administration. Even the former speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, tried to speak out after working with Trump for a year and a half, then fleeing Congress:
“We’ve gotten so numb to it all. Not in government, but where we live our lives. We have a responsibility to try and rebuild. Don’t call a woman a ‘horse face.’ Don’t cheat on your wife. Don’t cheat on anything. Be a good person. Set a good example. And prop up other institutions that do the same. You know?”
Ryan talked about how incompetent Trump was, how bad his instincts and impulses were, and how hard he, Ryan, had worked to keep Trump in check to protect the country.
But the effect of Ryan’s work was to legitimize Trump while he consolidated his grip on the Republican Party. That grip is now strangling our institutions and undermining what does, actually, make America a great country.
Stefanik is an adult, with more resources than most people, and she makes her own choices. But it is sad to see a young person with promise and energy and intelligence sink to this.
In a different time, she could have grown into a position of power and respect; instead, she is another Trump acolyte, tossing buzzwords to the mob and crying “fake news” at every fact she wishes would go away.
It’s not too late for her to choose honesty and honor. But we fear that won’t happen, because she has been going the opposite way, becoming more partisan, more disingenuous and irrational.
Someday, maybe, Elise Stefanik will be far enough removed from the Trump era that, like Paul Ryan, she will admit how bad it all was. But it won’t matter then. Now is the time to speak up. Later will be much too late.
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